Leela Venkataraman
Priyadarsini Govindlooking as stately as ever, presented Muthiah Bhagavatar’s composition Matey, with the charanam largely translated into statuesque poses. The post-varnam abhinaya largely involved some hasya rasa, one on the dysfunctional family of Siva, wherein the vahanas of the couple and their children are all at odds, each a sworn enemy of the other as the lion eying the bull, the peacock the snake, the snake the rat and so on, driving Siva, the head of the family into taking poison! The next was Parvati trying to bring peace between the quarrelling brothers Ganesa and Kartikeya. Amusing, but one missed Priyadarsini’s abhinaya depth in sringara.
Narthaki Nataraj’s Bharatanatyam, without contemporary trappings of the dance, presents Kittappa Pillai’s tradition in all its details. Starting with a sloka and Syama Sastry’s Devi meena netri in Sankarabharanam, one saw a picture of the goddess as visualised by her guru. The Tanjore Quartet’s varnam in Todi, Mamogalagiri konden swami, in a sanchari has the incident of Radha and Sri Rajagopala (Krishna) exchanging clothes in a change of identities, with the maya of division gradually disappearing in the large oneness, suggestively touched upon in the abhinaya. And of course, one saw the famous Kittappa Pillai teermanams.
The afternoon slots
Janaki Rangarajan, notwithstanding the surprisingly poor singing from Nandini Anand (who strangely, the same evening sang well for Alarmel Valli), perhaps due to an nth hour induction with the assigned singer not available, acquitted herself well—starting with the saptatalaragamalikajatiswaram, and moving on to the varnam in Manohari, Samika naatho inta jaala melara. The jatis in the Bharatanatyam format, without Bharatanrityam movements, were well executed. The best of her recital came in the ashtapadi in Behag (music composition by Hariprasad) Kuru Yadunandana, a much-evolved version from what one had seen the dancer perform on earlier occasions, combining restraint with intensity.
G. Narendra, featuring in a solo performance after a long time, proved he had not lost his flair or the spring in his step, starting with the varnam Velanai kaanbom vaareer by Lalitha and Ranganayaki Jayaraman inKhamas set to Adi tala. The azhagunathan atop his peacock vahana, the deva senapati destroying Sooran, and the delightful arudiin the charanam line Kandanai kaana kan tedinen yen manam ilai kolladu—all had an original stamp. Dancing non-stop for an hour and more, with good accompaniment provided by Murali Parthasarathy (vocal), K. Mahalakshmi (nattuvangam), Veda Krishnan (mridangam) and Eashwar Ramakrishnan (violin), the dancer proved his mettle.
It was good to see Purva Dhanashree provide the audience an exposure to Vilasini Natyam. The churnikaand sabda pallavi Tom tanatadiratanadiranain Anandabhairavi, projecting the technique and style, followed by varied extremely subtle abhinaya elaborations in the varnam Sarasijakshulu nee vani in Kalyani, showing the nayika expressing steadfast love for Saundarya Gopala, regaled the audience with the aesthetics of this dance. If Kasturi Ranga’s composition Adadani janmamu ettina portrayed the nayika’s hopelessness and despair about married life without fulfilment despite the trappings of a large house, Sadasiva Brahmendra’s Gayati vanamali in Yamunakalyani had all the contrasting lilt of joy.
Jyotsna Jagannathancould have planned her programme better for, after a neat presentation of Dandayudhapani Pillai’s varnam Mohamaginen inda velaiyil, with the dancer making an exit searching for her Lord, asking the sakhi Varuvaro solladi, moving on to the ashtapadi Yahi Madhava in Sindhubhairavi showing Radha as khandita, did not allow for an effective contrast in tone.
Kathak by Gauri Diwakar, presenting her mentor Aditi Mangaldas’ choreography, earned enthusiastic standing applause for the selection of items and the presentation. The textual framework comprising Muslim poets ‘Hasrat’ by Sayyad Fazlul Hasan, Malik Muhammad Jayasi, Mian Wahid Ali, and Sayyad Mubarak Ali Bilgrami was on Radha and Krishna. Resonance, an abstractionset to Teental in raga Kafi, was based on the sound of Krishna’s flute. The music in score and the full-throated vibrant singing by Samiullah Khan in Sahana and Suddha Sarang added tremendous verve to the dance which abounded in grace, perfection and emotive delicacy. The choreography was such that all the Kathak ingredients and bandishes, naturally flowed through the compositions, in different contexts. Bilgrami’s poetry was used as a kavit. Hariho gati meri inBairagiand Miyan ki Todi comprised the finish. Yogesh Gangani (tabla), Aashish Gangani (pakhawaj) and Ravindra Rajput (flute) provided the right support.
--- to be continued